Internal-combustion engine



'H. E. AND C. E. SHERMAN. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

' APPLICATION FILED FEB. 8, I917. 1,310,301.

Patented July 15, 1912).

Z SHEETS- SPEET I Im/evd'ors: Hang E.S'cewcrarc C kesr Skermouc eir Key

H. E. AND C. E. SHERMAN.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3, I917- lrutented J My 15, 1911-).

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To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, HARRY E. SHERMAN and CHESTER E. SHEBMAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Anoka, in the county of Anoka and State-of Minnesota,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

- Our-invention relates to internal combustion engines and has for its object to provide a special firing chamber at the head of the cylin'der'in combination with arotary sleeve valve so mounted that the same may readily be internally cooled, may be readily oiled by novel means associated with the is entirely eliminated. The bearing for this valve is formed outside of the water-jacket, which encircles the firing chamber, so the valve rotates upon a bearing continuously water cooled from within, and undue expansion of the valve is thus completely eliminated. An effective device for oiling the valve is provided 'by means of a groove in the valve casing which extends longitudinally of the valve, or along a cylindrical element thereof, and which is supplied with the requisite amount of oil from suitable feeding means. This groove is at all times in contact with the outer surface of the valve, and as the ports in the valve come beneath the same oil passes from the groove into said ports and is carried about and distributed on the inner bearing of the valve sleeve, thus simultaneously oiling both of the bearing surfaces.

The full objects and advantages of our invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof and are particularly pointed out in the claims.

- Specification of Letters Patent.

surname: AND CHESTER E. snrmmn, or arroxa, mama; assrenons Toz. H. AUSTIN, TRUSTEE, or gumnmoms, MINNESOTA.

v mrnnnAncomrnsrron ENGINE.

Patented July 15, 1919.

Application filed February a, 1917. Serial No. 147,356.

In the drawings, illustrating the applica- '7 tion of-our inventionin one form,

F igure 1 1s a plan vlew of an Internal combustion engine with our invention a'p-- plied thereto showing the valve mechanism and some of the other parts in section. Fig. i

2 is an end view of the cylinder drawn to ,a larger scale with some of the parts shown 1n section. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings our invention is shown,

applied to a stationary four-cycle internal combustion engine. A base 10 has secured to it a cylinder 11 and a pair of bearings 12 and 13 in which is journaled a crank shaft 14. A piston 15 slidable in cylinder 11 is connected to a pitman 16 which in turn is connected to thecrank shaft 14 of the engine.

'Upon the extreme ends of this shaft are mounted fly wheels 17 which are constructed in the ordinary manner.

The valve mechanism of our invention is constructed as follows.

Upon the end of. y r 11 is formed a hollow cylindricalextension 18 which has a smaller bore than the cylinder proper and is open at both ends to communicate with said cylinder chamber. A water-jacket 19 surrounds the cylinder 11 and extends radially inward at 21 and about the extension 18 at 20, forming a continuous water-circulating space about both of said portions of the engine. Upon the outer pe-, riphery of the water-jacket 20, which serves as a valve supporting member, is rotatably mounted a sleeve valve 22 which is held in way or port 32 is formed in the sleeve member 22, which port may successively register with ports 30 and 31 to permit the burnt gases to discharge and to permit a fresh charge of mixture. to be drawn in.

Valve member 22 is constantly driven in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig.

2 as follows. A spur ring gear 34 is formed Integral with the valve 22 at the outer end thereof. This gear meshes with, another spur gear 35 mounted on the end of a shaft 36' which is positioned longitudinally of the engine and is journaled in bearings 37 and 38 attached to the. exterior of cylinder 11 and the engine base 10. Upon the other end of shaft 36 is rigidly secured-a bevel gear 39 which meshes with a bevel gear 40' ast on the crank shaft 14. The ratios of the various gears sets are such that sleeve valve 22 travels at just one-half the speed of the crank shaft 14. a

The operation of the device is the same as that of any four-cycle engine. The chamber within extension 18 serves as anexplosion chamber and the cylinder head or cap 23 is provided with a spark plug 33 extendmg into this chamber by means of which the explosive mixture is-ignited. As the valve 22 is rotated port 32 successively brings the interior of the engine cylinder in communicatlon with the exhaust pipe 26.

- member 20 and the sleeve 22 adjacent the ports- 30, 31 and 32, passing through'the same, are placed four packing rings 41. The

ends of sleeve 22 are formed with annular tongues 42 which fit into corresponding grooves 43 formed on the sides of thecylinder head 23 and the water-jacket portion 21.

Similarly, the outer end of the valve housmg 24 is formed with a tongue 44 which enters a corresponding groove 45 in the side of the ring gear 34 used in driving the valve, whlch serves the same purpose. In this manner the valve is rendered perfectly tight without causing undue friction, as the greater part of the gases are held back by the packing rings 41, while any traces of the same whlch leak past said rings are prevented from escaping by the aforementioned tongue grooves 42 and 43.

For the purpose of lubrication a tube 46 1s employed which is connected with the under side of the housing 24 and with a. suitable oil reservoir not shown in the drawmgs. A longitudinal groove 47 shown in I dotted lines in Fig. 1 is out along the bot-tom of housing 24 into the bearing surface of the same and extends for a distance substantially equal to the length of the valve member 22. When the valve is in operation The advantages of our invention, are ap-v parent. The engine is extremely simple in construction and is very efiicient in opera- 7 tion, due to the reduction of friction gained by our improved oiling system, and due to the prevention of leakage of the gases within the cylinder.

We claim:

1. An internal combustion engine comprising an explosion cylinder having a firing chamber extending concentrically from the end of said cylinder, a cap closing the outer end of said cylinder, a Water-jacket surrounding the cylinder and the firing chamber and being formed with an inner bearing surface, said firing chamber and waterjacket being provided with an exhaust port and an inlet port, an outer casing, a sleeve valve mounted for rotation upon said bearing surface and within the casing, said sleeve valve having a suitably-positioned port therein for cooperating with said exhaust port and said inlet port, annular tongues on the valveentering grooves in said cylinder and cap, and means for continuously operating the sleeve valve in timed relation to the explosions of the engine.

2. An internal combustion engine comprising an explosion cylinder having a fir- 1ng chamber extending concentrically from the end of said cylinder and having facing grooves adjacent the firing chamber, a water- ]acket surrounding the cylinder and the firing chamber and being formed with an inner bearin surface, said firing chamber and wateracket being provided with an exhaust port and an inlet port, a sleeve valve mounted for rotation upon said. bearing surface and having a suitablypositioned port therein for cooperating with said exhaust port and said inlet port, annular tongues on the ends of the sleeve valve extending into the facing grooves in said cylinder, and means for continuously operating the sleeve valve.

3. In an internal combustion engine an explosion cylinder, a cylindrical firing chamber, having an exhaust port and inlet port, extending outwardly from the end of the cylinder, a cap closing the end of the firing chamber and having an annular groove therein and a sleeve valve rotatably mounted upon said firing chamber and having an. annular tongue rotatable in the cap groove.

4. An internal combustion engine comprisin an explosion cylinder and an attache cylindrical firing chamber, said explosion cylinder being provided with an annular groove adjacent the outer surface of the firing cylinder, a removable cap closing the other end of the firing cylinder and provided with an annular'groove facing the first-named groove, and a sleeve valve mounted for rotation upon'the firing cylinder and having annular tongues on the ends thereof entering said annular grooves.

5. An internal combustion engine comprising an explosion cylinder and an attached cylindrical firing chamber, said explosion cylinder being provided with an annular groove adjacent the outer surface of the firing cylinder, a removable cap closing the other end of the firing cylinder and provided with an annular groove facing the first-named groove, a slee e valve mounted for rotation upon the firing cylinder and having annular tongues on the ends thereof, entering said annular grooves, and a cylindrical casing member surroundlng sald sleeve valve. v v

6. An internal combustion engine comprising an explosion cylinder and an attached cylindrical firing chamber, said explosion cylinder being provlded with an annular of the firing cylinder, a removable cap closing the other end of the firing cylinder and provided with an annular groove facing the oove adjacent the outer surface first-named groove, a sleeve valve mounted for rotation upon the firing cylinder and having annular tongues on the ends thereof entering said annular grooves, a gear cast 7. An internal.v combustion engine comprlsing casing members surround ng afiring chamber and formed with an annular horizontally-positioned passageway between said members having bearing surfaces on each side of said passageway, said casing members being formed with an exhaust port and an inlet port extending through the same, a horizontally-positioned sleeve valve rotatably mounted within the annular passageway and having a port adapted to cooperate with said exhaust port andinlet port, and means including an oil supply pipe and a passageway in the outer caslng extending along and open at its side to an element of said sleeve valve for causing oil to be" distributed directly to the outer bearing surface thereof and into the valve port and, thereby 'to the inner bearing surface'of the sleeve valve.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

HARRY E. SHERMAN. CHESTER E. SHERMAN. Witnesses: K

Loom A. SHERMAN, HlLMA A. BOWMAN. 

